Post bumblefoot surgery- extreme inflammation

[Mergade]

Hi guys. This is Dolly's poor foot. She is about 9 months old. I've been treating her for bumblefoot for over 1 month- I do not have any before pics, unfortunately, but it started with the tell tale black scab and linping on the bottom of her foot. I treated with soaks until I could pull the plug, but nothing really came with it and I just continued soaking for a week or so. I did not know at that point that i should have dug it out. I would also spray blue kote and poultry wound spray after each soak. A few days after that, the swelling on top of her foot started (where the current scab is). I tried bumble surgery on the bottom but did not go deep enough about 1.5 weeks ago. About 5 days ago, I pulled a kernel the size of my pinky nail from top of her foot. I applied prid for a few days after on the bottom and triple neosporin w/o pain reliever on open wound, and the swelling on the bottom of her foot got rapidly worse using prid and I could visually see the kernel. 2 nights ago, I cut until I got a kernel about the size of my middle finger nail and a couple other small pieces of debris out of the bottom of her foot. Her swelling is slightly worse today on the bottom and sides, we did just cut into her pretty deep 2 days ago, but the heat on her ankle is noticeably less.

I truly feel that I am doing everything I can. Vet is not an option. She is walking better since her surgery but not well, and she is eating and drinking fine. She's hanging with her flock and foraging while she lays down. She has not laid in 3 days (or we have not found the eggs). I ordered Baytril tonight and I intend to dose her for 5 days and hope for the best. I will continue soaking daily with epsom/iodine and wrapping with triple antibiotics. The scab in person is just a dark red due to clotting, I think, not black. We are keeping her out of the water and in the coop with dry Cedar shavings. Her poop is totally normal and she pooped 3 times in her soak just tonight!

What does everyone think? Should baytril kick this? (Ignore my open cut. I did not realize I had it before handling her. I flushed it very well immediately after.)

 

[picklestheduck]

Hi guys. This is Dolly's poor foot. She is about 9 months old. I've been treating her for bumblefoot for over 1 month- I do not have any before pics, unfortunately, but it started with the tell tale black scab and linping on the bottom of her foot. I treated with soaks until I could pull the plug, but nothing really came with it and I just continued soaking for a week or so. I did not know at that point that i should have dug it out. I would also spray blue kote and poultry wound spray after each soak. A few days after that, the swelling on top of her foot started (where the current scab is). I tried bumble surgery on the bottom but did not go deep enough about 1.5 weeks ago. About 5 days ago, I pulled a kernel the size of my pinky nail from top of her foot. I applied prid for a few days after on the bottom and triple neosporin w/o pain reliever on open wound, and the swelling on the bottom of her foot got rapidly worse using prid and I could visually see the kernel. 2 nights ago, I cut until I got a kernel about the size of my middle finger nail and a couple other small pieces of debris out of the bottom of her foot. Her swelling is slightly worse today on the bottom and sides, we did just cut into her pretty deep 2 days ago, but the heat on her ankle is noticeably less.

I truly feel that I am doing everything I can. Vet is not an option. She is walking better since her surgery but not well, and she is eating and drinking fine. She's hanging with her flock and foraging while she lays down. She has not laid in 3 days (or we have not found the eggs). I ordered Baytril tonight and I intend to dose her for 5 days and hope for the best. I will continue soaking daily with epsom/iodine and wrapping with triple antibiotics. The scab in person is just a dark red due to clotting, I think, not black. We are keeping her out of the water and in the coop with dry Cedar shavings. Her poop is totally normal and she pooped 3 times in her soak just tonight!

What does everyone think? Should baytril kick this? (Ignore my open cut. I did not realize I had it before handling her. I flushed it very well immediately after.)

That is quite a bit of swelling! Are you wrapping the foot after each soak/surgery/pulling out the plug? It is HARD to keep a duck foot clean in a wrap, but I’ve found if I cover it well with duct tape only after I wrap the foot in vetwrap it will stay clean and dry. I fought a bumblefoot battle with my duck for over a year. It’s really dang tough, I also would say not to use bluekote on it, since I’ve had experiences where that made things worse, I’d say just stick with soaking it, getting out any black scab/plug if it reappears, and wrap with neosporin. My duck had to be kept in a large dog kennel for a few months so she would heal. Every time I tried putting her back she messed it up, so it was a long waiting game. Yes I would try baytril, although I’m unsure if it will kick a case this bad for good, only time will tell I guess.

 

[Mergade]

That is quite a bit of swelling! Are you wrapping the foot after each soak/surgery/pulling out the plug? It is HARD to keep a duck foot clean in a wrap, but I’ve found if I cover it well with duct tape only after I wrap the foot in vetwrap it will stay clean and dry. I fought a bumblefoot battle with my duck for over a year. It’s really dang tough, I also would say not to use bluekote on it, since I’ve had experiences where that made things worse, I’d say just stick with soaking it, getting out any black scab/plug if it reappears, and wrap with neosporin. My duck had to be kept in a large dog kennel for a few months so she would heal. Every time I tried putting her back she messed it up, so it was a long waiting game. Yes I would try baytril, although I’m unsure if it will kick a case this bad for good, only time will tell I guess.

Yes, we are wrapping liberally with fresh gauze after each soak/surgery (no plugs have really reappeared to be pulled yet) and lots of vet wrap. Daily or at the bare minimum every other day. Noted on the blue kote- we haven't used it in about 3 weeks (since before the first surgery/plug pull). I am going to be cutting sponges to help take some of the pressure off- I'm not sure how we would keep her separated with our current set up and inside is not an option. I do believe I got all of the current kernels (the HUGE one from the bottom and the medium one from the top). I'm hoping Baytril just helps with the inflammation and makes it easier to treat moving forward. I'm also going to try throwing raw honey poultices and 40ppm colloidal silver at it once she is on Baytril and stop the triple topical temporarily.

 

[picklestheduck]

Yes, we are wrapping liberally with fresh gauze after each soak/surgery (no plugs have really reappeared to be pulled yet) and lots of vet wrap. Daily or at the bare minimum every other day. Noted on the blue kote- we haven't used it in about 3 weeks (since before the first surgery/plug pull). I am going to be cutting sponges to help take some of the pressure off- I'm not sure how we would keep her separated with our current set up and inside is not an option. I do believe I got all of the current kernels (the HUGE one from the bottom and the medium one from the top). I'm hoping Baytril just helps with the inflammation and makes it easier to treat moving forward. I'm also going to try throwing raw honey poultices and 40ppm colloidal silver at it once she is on Baytril and stop the triple topical temporarily.

Alright sounds good then. Keep me posted on the antibiotics and colloidal silver. I believe I tried it if I remember correctly, but I don’t think it helped since she had very severe infection. My duck also did not get much out of antibiotics, but the vet said all animals respond a bit different to meds and her body might have had a hard time with it. in the end I had to go to an exotic vet to get the infection removed surgically by a professional. Hoping you have better luck!

 

[Mergade]

Alright sounds good then. Keep me posted on the antibiotics and colloidal silver. I believe I tried it if I remember correctly, but I don’t think it helped since she had very severe infection. My duck also did not get much out of antibiotics, but the vet said all animals respond a bit different to meds and her body might have had a hard time with it. in the end I had to go to an exotic vet to get the infection removed surgically by a professional. Hoping you have better luck!

Update on Dolly: the bottom of her foot scabbed over RED, finally, and is now completely scab-free with the swelling about 60% improved!
Her top swelling got a bit better since the pics but I felt another kernel in it and it was still really tight. We operated again tonight and put her on another round of Baytril (we only did 5 days the first time, doing 10 this time). I got a kernel about the size of a grain of rice out of a swollen pocket by her dew claw, and I got one the size of a pencil eraser out of that swelling on the top. I dug around pretty deep in both and think I got it all once and for all. I palpated the swelling on the other side of her foot (which has also markedly improved, near the bottom) and did not feel anything except squishy inflammation so fingers crossed and I will post another update in a week!
The Baytril certainly seemed to improve her walking capabilities and the inflammation. It also got rid of 90% of the heat within the 5 day course. The colloidal silver did not seem to do diddly squat, but I am using it on a scab she has on her head from our drake picking her as his seasonal favorite. It seems to be helping with that.

 

[Mergade]

Update on Dolly: the bottom of her foot scabbed over RED, finally, and is now completely scab-free with the swelling about 60% improved!
Her top swelling got a bit better since the pics but I felt another kernel in it and it was still really tight. We operated again tonight and put her on another round of Baytril (we only did 5 days the first time, doing 10 this time). I got a kernel about the size of a grain of rice out of a swollen pocket by her dew claw, and I got one the size of a pencil eraser out of that swelling on the top. I dug around pretty deep in both and think I got it all once and for all. I palpated the swelling on the other side of her foot (which has also markedly improved, near the bottom) and did not feel anything except squishy inflammation so fingers crossed and I will post another update in a week!
The Baytril certainly seemed to improve her walking capabilities and the inflammation. It also got rid of 90% of the heat within the 5 day course. The colloidal silver did not seem to do diddly squat, but I am using it on a scab she has on her head from our drake picking her as his seasonal favorite. It seems to be helping with that.

Hey pickles, I got another update much sooner than expected! Throughout this whole thing, she has not been walking like a Runner. She has been favoring her leg so much it's made her body more like a Pekin in terms of stature (slightly horizontal, butt out with chest down instead of butt positioned straight over feet and chest up). She also has been laying down with her foot under her wing to forage for 2 months. Well, tonight she's back to standing totally vertical as a Runner should and is walking almost totally normally, despite 24 hours since surgery! She's also standing for long periods of time to forage. I'm feeling really confident I got it all now. She hasn't seemed this well since it all began in one single spot on the bottom of her foot. Moral of the story: cut that crap out before it has a chance to spread and Baytril is a readily available (ordered online with no vet RX for $30) godsend!!!

 

[picklestheduck]

Hey pickles, I got another update much sooner than expected! Throughout this whole thing, she has not been walking like a Runner. She has been favoring her leg so much it's made her body more like a Pekin in terms of stature (slightly horizontal, butt out with chest down instead of butt positioned straight over feet and chest up). She also has been laying down with her foot under her wing to forage for 2 months. Well, tonight she's back to standing totally vertical as a Runner should and is walking almost totally normally, despite 24 hours since surgery! She's also standing for long periods of time to forage. I'm feeling really confident I got it all now. She hasn't seemed this well since it all began in one single spot on the bottom of her foot. Moral of the story: cut that crap out before it has a chance to spread and Baytril is a readily available (ordered online with no vet RX for $30) godsend!!!

Good job! Hoping she continues to have a speedy recovery!

 

[Sussmarolle]

Can you put a link where you got the Baytril? I have been dealing with a reoccurring bumble on my girl since August, I have done everything possible except Baytril!